Category: News

Princeton University graduate students have put together a petition against proposed federal taxation of tuition waivers. You can check out an explanation of how the taxation would affect Princeton graduate students, and the reasons we are demanding commitments from the university, here. You can also sign the petition here.

Princeton graduate students could see their tax bills skyrocket to $11,000 or more if the Republican tax bill currently under consideration in the House of Representatives becomes law.

The GOP bill eliminates §117(d) in the U.S. tax code, a provision which exempts “qualified tuition support” for research and teaching assistants from being counted towards gross income.

This means that a student whose funding comes in full or part from a teaching or research assistantship at Princeton will be paying tax not just on their stipend and any additional teaching/research income, but also on the roughly $49,000 Princeton tuition as “non-cash income.”

Fortunately, students who are on fellowships would not see their tuition support counted towards taxable income. §117(a), which exempts “qualified scholarships” from taxation would remain on the books. But most Princeton students receive at least part of their funding from assistantships during their the course of their PhD program and would therefore be affected by the tax bill.

Reliable access to affordable housing for grad students: it’s one of the issues we hear about the most. Please join us for an update from the Graduate Housing Project next Wednesday, May 17th at 5:00 PM in Frist 302. Bring your comments and questions.

On Monday night, four panelists from NYU and Rutgers shared their experience with higher education unions and encouraged University graduate students to unionize.

Last October, graduate students voted to affiliate their union, Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU), with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Now, PGSU organizers are holding meetings and events to gather feedback on the union’s potential future. This will involve whether they continue with the process of unionization by holding elections for representatives, gaining recognition from the University, and negotiating a contract.

Disha Karnad Jani, a first year history graduate student, gave a brief opening speech on the purpose of PGSU. She emphasized that the union would give students the power to “negotiate as equals” and “build solidarity,” rather than impose an immutable “one-size-fits-all contract,” addressing fears that the union would not accurately represent all interests of graduate students.

Graduate workers at Princeton University have followed the lead of their University of Chicago and Cornell University peers.

Last week, members of Princeton Graduate Students United voted to join the American Federation of Teachers and its state affiliate, AFT New Jersey, after the recent National Labor Relations Board decision to classify private colleges’ graduate teaching and research assistants as workers.

“I think the movement to unionize graduate workers in Princeton is part of a larger struggle to highlight the value of academic labor,” said Edna Goodman, a sixth-year doctoral student, in a statement. “Graduate students, undergraduates and adjunct professors have continued to provide cheap labor with little protection, and unionization can help ensure that we are protected as workers. Not only is it a question of labor, but it is connected to job prospects after college, austerity in the university system and autonomy in the workplace.”

“I’m pro-union because I think graduate students at Princeton University need a firm, independent advocate for our interests,” added David Walsh, a third-year doctoral student in the history department, in a statement. “I’m pro-AFT because it has a proven track record of successful organizing in the state of New Jersey.”

[…]

AFT New Jersey President Donna Chiera said she appreciated the work graduate workers have put in to get to this point.

“We see organized graduate student workers achieving many gains for themselves and helping our colleges and universities thrive,” said Chiera. “Graduate student workers make significant contributions to research and academics at their schools and deserve respect and a professional voice. We are proud that Princeton University graduate workers are coming together to learn about the many benefits of joining us and encourage them to be part of the union movement.”

[NOTE: The video report concludes that “to form a union 30% of graduate students need to back the effort.” Unions are actually formed when a majority of the workers vote to unionize. The 30% figure represents the percentage of workers who need to agree to take a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) vote in the first place.]

“Graduate students, it’s sort of a misnomer in the sense that we don’t just take classes and then go home and do homework. We do actively produce novel research and that requires a lot of work,” said Akshay Mehra, vice president of Princeton’s GSG.

Princeton University’s graduate students are taking first steps toward forming a union following the lead of other schools in recent months. While there are unions on public campuses, private colleges are just catching up thanks to an August decision by the National Labor Relations Board to classify private colleges’ graduate teaching and research assistants as workers.

“Graduate students that actually work at their universities are spending basically 24 hours a day between their studies and the work they do so that they can support their studies, so they can support their families and so that they can actually spend the time in their studies,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten.

PRINCETON – A collection of graduate students at Princeton University made the first step in the process of forming a union this week when they voted to accept support from a national teachers’ union.

The students, who have been meeting for months to discuss unionization, accepted a proposal for affiliation from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) on Tuesday, David Walsh, a graduate student at the university said this week. The AFT is a national union that has provided support to other student groups across the country looking to unionize.

Through the affiliation, the AFT can provide staffing, legal support and office space for the graduate students as they work toward unionization, Walsh said.

Like PGSU

REMINDER: Our Spring party is tomorrow evening. It starts at 8pm, so come along and have a post (or pre)-library chat/drink/dance and meet your fellow grad students as we try to create a feeling of community on this campus! Community builds power!

Looking forward to seeing all your beautiful faces there!

Also we're building a playlist of labor related songs (ha!) so far we have:

PGSU is hosting a welcome-back Spring party at our union hall at 63 Moran St! Following on from our success last semester, which culminated in a hundred-person (!!) march on Nassau Hall, this is a chance to chat and dance on a Thursday night without having to put-up with Ivy Inn or Dbar karaoke! See you there! Much love xxx ... See more

Hi everyone, we can't wait to see you all at our Spring party next Thursday! Come along to chat and dance in an inclusive space and without the hassle of the Dbar or Ivy Inn karaoke! Meet your fellow grad students and let's build on the momentum of the previous semester which ended with a hundred-person march on Nassau Hall! Besides, let's face it, Week 3 is probably the last chance to have fun without worrying about deadlines...

PGSU is hosting a welcome-back Spring party at our union hall at 63 Moran St! Following on from our success last semester, which culminated in a hundred-person (!!) march on Nassau Hall, this is a chance to chat and dance on a Thursday night without having to put-up with Ivy Inn or Dbar karaoke! See you there! Much love xxx ... See more

PGSU is hosting a welcome-back Spring party at our union hall at 63 Moran St! Following on from our success last semester, which culminated in a hundred-person (!!) march on Nassau Hall, this is a chance to chat and dance on a Thursday night without having to put-up with Ivy Inn or Dbar karaoke! See you there! Much love xxx ... See more

PGSU is hosting a welcome-back Spring party at our union hall at 63 Moran St! Following on from our success last semester, which culminated in a hundred-person (!!) march on Nassau Hall, this is a chance to chat and dance on a Thursday night without having to put-up with Ivy Inn or Dbar karaoke! See you there! Much love xxx ... See more